Credit Karma

Credit Karma built its name on free credit scores and added budgeting features around that core rather than the other way around. Connect a checking, savings, or credit card account through Plaid and the app pulls every transaction into a feed, sorts it into categories like dining or transit, and totals up a net-worth number that updates as balances change. What it doesn’t do is let you set a dollar limit on any of those categories or build a plan for the month ahead, so calling it a budgeting app stretches the term a little. Intuit, which also owns TurboTax and once owned Mint, acquired Credit Karma in 2020.

There’s no subscription, no premium tier, and no feature gated behind a paywall, the entire product is funded by the credit card and loan offers it recommends based on your score. That makes it a reasonable first stop for someone who wants to see where money is going without committing to an app that asks for a credit card number of its own. Anyone who actually wants to cap grocery spending at $400 a month or build an envelope system will need a different tool, Credit Karma is built for watching, not planning.